Comparison · Trading schools
HEC Paris vs ESSEC Business School: which trading school is better?
As of October 30, 2026, HEC Paris leads ESSEC Business School by 0.2 point in the 2027 trading school ranking: #47 internationally against #50. The gap comes mainly from the Teaching and Student reviews pillars. ESSEC Business School does better on Recognition and employability. On Trust and Visibility, they are level.
2027 edition · updated October 30, 2026 · next updates planned for December 2026 and January 2027 · Ranking methodology
All 25 criteria, side by side
| Criterion | HEC Paris | ESSEC Business School |
|---|---|---|
| Score out of 100 | 76.5 | 76.3 |
| International rank | #47 | #50 |
| Rank in France | #4 of 122 | #5 of 122 |
| Trust · 10 % | 4.39/5 | 4.55/5 |
| 1. Regulator warningsscale | 5/5 | 5/5 |
| 2. Registered company and agescale | 5/5 | 5/5 |
| 3. Transparency: price, refunds, legal notice, contactscale | 3/5 | 2/5 |
| 4. Named, verifiable instructorsscale | 3/5 | 4/5 |
| 5. Honest marketing, no promise of profitscale | 4/5 | 4/5 |
| 6. Secure websitescale | 5/5 | 5/5 |
| 7. Protected domain (SPF, DMARC, headers)scale | 4/5 | 5/5 |
| Teaching · 20 % | 2.45/5 | 1.36/5 |
| 8. Curriculum coveragescale | 3/5 | 2/5 |
| 9. Real practicescale | 2/5 | 1/5 |
| 10. Mentoring and supportscale | 1/5 | 1/5 |
| 11. Cost per training hourscale | n/a | 1/5 |
| Student reviews · 20 % | 4.33/5 | 4.00/5 |
| 13. Student rating (Trustpilot and Google)scale | 4/5 | 4/5 |
| 14. Number of reviewsscale | 4/5 | 4/5 |
| 15. Suspicious review warningscale | 5/5 | n/a |
| 16. 12-month trendscale | n/a | n/a |
| Recognition and employability · 30 % | 3.94/5 | 4.79/5 |
| 12. Degree-granting programscale | 3/5 | 4/5 |
| 18. Degree recognized by a state or the professionscale | 2/5 | 5/5 |
| 25. Employability and career outcomesscale | 3/5 | 3/5 |
| 17. Institutional accreditationscale | 5/5 | 5/5 |
| 19. Labels and awardsscale | 4/5 | 4/5 |
| 20. Official partnersscale | 3/5 | 3/5 |
| Visibility · 20 % | 4.25/5 | 4.25/5 |
| 21. Domain agescale | 5/5 | 5/5 |
| 22. Websites linking to itscale | 4/5 | 4/5 |
| 23. Press mentions, Wikipedia pagescale | 5/5 | 5/5 |
| 24. Social media audiencescale | 3/5 | 3/5 |
In green, the better of the two scores. “n/a”: not applicable, the criterion is left out of its pillar. “–”: criterion not yet assessed. The evidence and source for each score are on each school's listing.